North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that flew higher than any of its previous efforts, shattering a two-month respite from military tests, with experts suggesting that Pyongyang is technically close to putting Washington DC within range.

The Pentagon said it believed the projectile was an ICBM that travelled roughly 1,000 km (620 miles) eastward before plunging into the Sea of Japan. The Japanese Defence Ministry believe the missile remained airborne for 50 minutes and likely landed in the waters of the country's exclusive economic zone.

The latest act of North Korean aggression demonstrated the type of military advances that have been a feature of a number of its launches this year, which have put its neighbours and the US on edge - as well as sparking an escalating war of words with Washington over its expanding nuclear and missile programmes. The projectile soared higher than any previous North Korean launch, Defence Secretary James Mattis said, part of a drive to build missiles that “can threaten everywhere in the world”.

The South Korean military said the missile had an altitude of around 4,500 km (2,800 miles) and flew 960 km, while Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the missile reached an estimated altitude of 4,000 kilometres and broke up. He said it was judged to be ICBM class given the missile's lofted trajectory.

According to David Wright, the co-director of the global security programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists, those numbers suggested that if it had flown on a standard trajectory, rather than a lofted one, it could reach 13,000 km or 8,100 miles. That would put Washington DC within range, with it being about 6,850 miles from Pyongyang. However, Mr Wright added that given the potential range, the missile was likely to be carrying a light payload or a potential "light mock warhead" that would mean that it could not travel that distance if it was carrying a full warhead.

Colonel Rob Manning, the Pentagon spokesman, said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), “determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies.” 

Donald Trump was briefed while the missile was “still in the air”, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened a meeting of cabinet officials. The South Korean military said it quickly responded with a missile test of its own.

“We will take care of it,” Mr Trump said after the launch, calling it “a situation we will handle”. Mr Trump has repeatedly denounced the North's missile launches and has called on the UN and neighbours Japan, South Korea and particularly China - Pyongyang's biggest trading partner - to put as much pressure on the regime of Kim Jong-un as possible.

Japanese officials had been bracing for an imminent missile launch, saying they had detected suspicious radio signals. North Korea has menaced Japan in recent months, firing a ballistic missile over Hokkaido in September — the second time it hurled a missile over Japan — and warning that the nation should be “sunken into the sea” by a nuclear strike.